Daughter of the Dark Knight
by Allanna Stone
Summary: Elizabeth Alice Wayne must confront her past and her fears when she comes face to face with the Joker... SEQUAL TO DAUGHTER!
1. Chapter 1

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

_**ONE month later…**_

Elizabeth woke up when Alfred opened the curtains to her window. She buried her head underneath her pillow, just as she always did whenever he would wake her up. However, instead of going away, he picked the tiny girl up and carried her downstairs, still in her Powerpuff Girls footie pajamas.

"Good morning, Miss Elizabeth," Alfred greeted the yawning girl. Her only reply was to bury her head into Alfred's shoulder. The butler chuckled. "I can see that like Master Wayne, you're not a morning person!" He gently set the young girl down onto an island stood and slid her a plate of heart shaped pancakes and a small glass bowl filled with maple syrup.

"Twanks," she mumbled sleepily, propping her head up with her arms.

"Rough night?" Alfred asked the girl, taking a seat next to her.

"I had a nightmawe. I went to Bwuce's room to see if I could sleep with him, but his bed was emptwy." Elizabeth's chin began to tremble as she struggled not to cry.

"There, there, Miss Elizabeth." Alfred sat next to the tiny girl and she laid her black curly head on his chest as she cried.

Bruce entered the kitchen to find his adopted daughter crying in his butler's arms. With two giant strides, he scooped up Elizabeth into his strong, muscular arms.

"What's wrong, Lizzy?" he softly asked her, using his pet name for the tiny six year old girl. She tearfully explained. "I had to work late again last night," Bruce told his daughter as he opened the fridge. He speedily fixed Elizabeth a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and a sliced apple. "Eat up; you have a big day ahead of you." Bruce kissed the top of Elizabeth's head, causing her to giggle and tuck into her meal.

"Busy night, Master Wayne?" Alfred inquired as he watched Elizabeth eat.

"Very busy. I'll tell you about it later," Bruce muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Elizabeth finished up her breakfast and carried her dishes into the kitchen, where she placed them into the dishwasher.

"Here now, I would have done that, Miss Elizabeth," Alfred protested as the little girl ran out of the kitchen and thumped loudly up the stairs. He shook his head at Bruce. "Children," he muttered as Bruce went upstairs to help Elizabeth get dressed.

When the billionaire arrived at his daughter's bedroom, Elizabeth was wearing dark wash jeans and a deep blue tank top with a decal of a pink fairy on the front. She was brushing her long hair as she sang _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_. Bruce picked her up and set her onto her bed and he began to braid her hair.

He had Rachel to thank for teaching him how to do Elizabeth's hair. The district attorney spent at least three weeks beating Bruce around his head to teach him how to do a decent French braid.

When Bruce was finished, he picked up the five year old girl and carried her upsidedown to the staircase and out the door. Alfred had already placed Elizabeth's backpack and Bruce's briefcase into Bruce's Lincoln 2010, which was ready to go.

A few minutes later, Bruce pulled up in front of Aria Swann's house, where the little girl barreled out of the house and tackled Elizabeth as she ran out of the car. After much confusement, Mrs. Swann waved goodbye to her daughter and her bestie as Bruce pulled the car out of the driveway and towards Gotham Privet Schools.


	2. Chapter 2

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

One late afternoon in mid August, Gotham City almost looked serine as the hot sun beat down on anybody unfortunate enough to cross its path...

... But as most crime ridden cities, in this story, looks can be quite deceiving.

Gotham City, and her villain, all wear masks.

_**SMASH!**_

In the heart of the city, near the bank district, the window on the sixteenth floor of a skyscraper under construction work was smashed to smithereens from a silenced handgun. Now this was the weird part. The pistol was fired by a man in a clown mask. In fact, there were two men in clown masks in the empty room. The one who shot the window was given the codename Dopey. His partner was called Happy.

While Happy was loading some equipment into a duffel bag, Dopey took another gun. This time, it was a spear gun, which he aimed and shot a spear tied to a line of cable to the rooftop of the Gotham National Bank that stood across from their building. He then secured their end of the cable to a beam they had screwed in by the broken window.

~xXx~

About three blocks away from where Dopey and Happy were stationed, a man stood at the corner of an intersection. He had his head down, concealing his face from people who would pass his way every now and then. A duffel bag was slung over his shoulder.

And in his left hand that hung by his side was a clown mask.

Even in a place like Gotham, you do not see anything like this everyday.

Suddenly, a van came to a screeching halt in front of this mysterious character's corner. It was a black and white van with black tinted windows and out-of-state license plates. Quickly, the man donned on his clown mask, giving himself the nickname "Bozo", and climbed in the backseat of the van. As soon as he was in with the other two clowns, Grumpy and Chuckles, the van took off, heading into Gotham City's bank district.

It was time to get started.

After sending their duffel bags across the zip-line, Dopey and Happy followed close behind, gliding from one building to another in mid-air. If someone were to look up to the sky at that moment, they would see two disguised as clowns sailing across the air, and think that they were more crazy than the Batman himself. However, no one did.

As soon as Dopey and Happy dropped on top of the graveled rooftop of Gotham National Bank, they headed straight for the security panel.

~xXx~

"Three of a kind," remarked Grumpy. Then after a moment, she added, "Let's do this,"

"That's it?" asked Chuckles while Bozo and him loaded a few machine guns. "_Three_ guys?"

"Two guys on the roof," Grumpy corrected, holding up two fingers. "Every guy gets a share. Five shares is plenty,"

"_Six_ shares," Chuckles corrected. "Don't forget the guy who planned the job,"

"He thinks he can sit it out and still take a slice," Grumpy scoffed.

"I know why they call him the Joker," Bozo piped up smugly.

~xXx~

"So why do they call him the Joker?" Happy asked as he fiddled with the security panel.

"I hear he wears make-up," declared Dopey.

_**SM**__**ASH!**_

Dopey had broken off the lock of the security panel with a hammer to gain better access to its controls.

"Make-up?"

"Yeah, to scare people," Dopey said. "You know, war paint,"

~xXx~

After pulling up in front of Gotham National Bank, Grumpy, Chuckles, and Bozo leapt out of their transportation vehicle, masks on, and pistols in hand. Bozo was the only one with a duffel bag as he looked around to make sure people walking around the city were not taking notice of what would soon be a puzzling bank heist to all of Gotham. Grumpy led them into the Bank, running up the steps and into the glass doors.

Gotham National Bank was a beautiful establishment with marble floors and splashes of gold about the lobby. It was more nice than any other common banking service. Unfortunately, its panache appearance turned dark and fearful as soon as Chuckles fired the first warning shots and took out the closest security guard before he and his fellow criminals could be stopped.

The robbery had begun.

Now, the Bank Manager's Office was just outside the entry way, and the strange criminals happened to have passed by it without looking or even noticing that the Bank Manager himself was inside. He could even be seen through the glass walls for his clients and bank tellers to see. Upon hearing the gunshots, and the unexpected screams of a scared female client, the Bank Manager looked up in surprise as he rolled back in his chair away from his desk and papers he had been inspecting, and watched the scene unfold.

Grumpy, Chuckles, and Bozo took action on their assigned jobs. As Chuckles made sure the now helpless security guard didn't try to do anything he would regret, Grumpy started terrorizing the bank tellers and clients.

"All right everybody!" shouted Grumpy. "Hands up! Heads down!"

Some people took cover, ducking underneath the wooden tables that stood in the middle of the lobby. Others cowered to the ground, against the counters. They were all huddled in fear, some hugging their knees to a chest like a child would do in need to comfort oneself.

Cowering. Huddling. Screaming.

It was all they could do as Bozo sat the duffel bag on top of one of the wooden tables.

"I said hands up, heads down!" Grumpy threatened once more, running up to the counter and grabbing a bank teller by the collar. "Let's go, pal! I'm making a withdrawal here!"

"Wait!" protested the male bank teller. "Whoa! Whoa!"

Grumpy pulled the man roughly over the counter by the collar, and let him fall to the hard floor. His co-worker, a female bank teller, watched this fearfully as she discreetly pressed the red button underneath her work station, setting off a silent alarm. But when she looked up, she slightly jumped in surprise, and put both of her hands back up in the air when Grumpy stalked over to her.

"No!" she tried to stop him from grabbing at her.

~xXx~

"Here comes the silent alarm...," Dopey announced as a beeping sound came from a tracking device he was using that was connected to the access panel.

Happy said nothing as he stood behind him, pulling something out of his jacket pocket. Then the beeping sound came to a stop.

"...And there it goes,"

~xXx~

By the time Grumpy had reached the female bank teller, Bozo had finished unzipping the duffel bag revealing about a dozen hand grenades. He swung the strap over his shoulder again, and quickly walked among the clients-turned-hostages who were trying to hide.

"All right, tootsie!" Grumpy fiercely gripped the female bank teller's arm. "You're taking a dive with me!"

"No!" screamed the poor woman. "No!"

Like her co-worker before her, the woman was pulled over the counter as well, knocking a desk lamp that hung over the edge of the counter by its cord, swinging back and forth a little. When she was on the ground with the other hostages, Grumpy pointed his gun at her when she tried to get up.

While all this was happening, Bozo had just started putting grenades into the hostage's hands and ripping off the tops.

"I said stay down there!" Grumpy threatened once more.

"Don't hurt me!" the woman fearfully pleaded.

~xXx~

"That's funny," Dopey was confused. "It didn't dial out to 911. It was trying to reach a private number,"

"Is it a problem?" Happy calmly asked.

"No. I'm done here,"

_**BANG!**_

Dopey slumped to the ground, instantly dead when Happy shot him in the back with a silenced automatic pistol. As soon as he was down, Happy started the next phase in this robbery. Stuffing the gun back in his inside jacket pocket and grabbing the duffel bag that sat near his feet, he raced toward the emergency staircase and headed down the steps so that he could do his job.

~xXx~

The Bank Manager looked calmly out the window of his office, watching the clowns terrorize his clients and employees. Removing his reading glasses, he mentally prepared himself.

He knew what he had to do.

~xXx~

Everything was going according to plan. This was exactly the way it was supposed to go. Bozo was satisfied of all this.

_Yes..._ he thought to himself as he gave another hostage a grenade. _Everything is going just fine._

~xXx~

Finally!

Happy had made it down to the bank vault. Pushing open the swinging doors, he gazed upon the steel door that had millions of cash stored inside.

He tried to imagine how much money there was behind the vault.

_We're gonna be filthy rich, _Happy thought with wonder.

~xXx~

"Obviously," Grumpy rambled on to the hostages. "We don't want you doing anything with your hands other than holding on for dear life,"

The innocent people inside Gotham National Bank were absolutely terrified. Bozo had just given away the last of the hand grenades. The hostages clasped them tightly between their sweaty and trembling hands, pressing their thumbs over the tops as if to stop the explosion from each individual grenade.

It might have done very little, but what else could they do?

~xXx~

Time was running out.

Happy hoisted a huge electric drill to his shoulder, and set it up against the vault. A few cranks later, and the drill started cutting its way through the door.

~xXx~

Chuckles hit the security guard he was watching on the back of the head with his gun. As soon as the poor man was on the floor, unconscious, Chuckles aimed his gun at the hostages.

"On the ground!" he shouted. "Stay on the ground! Nobody make a move! Nobody! Stay down!"

_**BANG!**_

~xXx~

It was almost a surprise to see the Bank Manager armed with a shotgun after he had shot Chuckles through his office window. Bozo immediately took cover behind one of the wooden tables, while hostages fearfully held onto one another, confused as to what in the world was going on. Of course! How could the criminals have been so stupid? They should have known something like this would have happened.

After all, they were robbing a mob bank.

~xXx~

Meanwhile, Happy was busy concentrating on getting the vault cracked open with his electric drill.

_ZAP!_

Shocked with a small amount of electricity, Happy was blasted away from the door thanks to the jolt.

_They have this thing wired!_ he thought in amazement.

This was going to be a little harder than he thought.

~xXx~

_**BANG!**_

The bank manager shot at where Bozo was hiding, but he only managed to hit the pile of papers that was on the wooden table. But the clown-masked robber knew that he couldn't stay in one place for long. Making sure to stay down as low as he possibly could, Bozo moved to take cover at another wooden table.

However, this didn't stop the bank manager. He loaded his gun again.

_**BANG!**_

The bullet hit the wooden table Bozo was crawling by. Load the gun again.

_**BANG!**_

It was a close one this time. A small spark of fire told Bozo that he had almost been hit.

"Yeah!" the bank manager shouted.

He knew that he had almost caught the freaks who were robbing the place.

_**BANG!**_

Bozo kept crawling, eventually hiding with Grumpy behind yet another wooden table, pressing his back against it.

"You have any idea who you're stealing from?" shouted the bank manager, taking a few steps closer before stopping about a foot away from where Bozo and Grumpy were. "You and your friends are dead!"

"He's out, right?" Grumpy asked Bozo.

Grumpy was talking about how many bullets the bank manager had left in his shotgun. Bozo looked up a bit, thinking to himself for a moment. Shotguns usually had six bullet chambers. After a second, Bozo turned to Grumpy and nodded a bit vigorously, confirming that the man with the shotgun had used all six bullets. Taking his word for it, Grumpy stood up and out of his hiding place, and took aim on the bank manager.

The bank manager was quicker on the draw. He shot at Grumpy as soon as he was able to see him.

_**BANG!**_

"What-?"Grumpy shouted furiously to himself as he went down on the ground.

By the time Bozo himself had come out of hiding after Grumpy had been shot, he found that the bank manager was angrily trying to reload his gun. It was the perfect distraction. Taking no hesitation whatsoever, Bozo shot his automatic pistol at him.

_**BANG!**_

The bullet sunk into his stomach, and the bank manager stumbled to the ground, dropping his shotgun, defeated.

Bozo lowered his gun, breathing heavily through his clown mask, knowing that everything was all under control now.

Grumpy got up off the ground, a hand to his left shoulder as he inspected it.

"Where did _you_ learn to count?" he asked Bozo angrily, looking back and forth at him and his shoulder.

Bozo watched as Grumpy headed toward the bank vault to meet up with Dopey, taking a duffel bag with him.

_Guess he didn't run out of bullets, _he thought mischievously.

~xXx~

Happy looked up from what he was doing to the bank vault to find Grumpy rushing in through the double doors, and kneeling on the floor behind him, taking out the pile of duffel bags out of the one he carried in.

"They wired this thing up with like 5,000 volts," Happy explained. "What kind of bank does that?"

"A _Mob _bank," Grumpy answered. "I guess the Joker's as crazy as they say. Where's the alarm guy?"

"Boss told me when the guy was done, I should take him out," Happy took off the padded gloves he used to protect his hands, sure that he would not receive any more electric shocks. "One less share, right?"

Happy spun the big metal wheel on the door, starting to unlock the safe.

"Funny-" Grumpy said.

Happy spun the other metal wheel, and the door slightly moved forward. The safe was finally open.

"-He told me something similar"

"He what-?" Happy then realized what was going to happen. "No. No!"

_**BANG!**_

~xXx~

Bozo wandered a bit around the lobby, looking around at the bank that they were robbing, glancing once or twice at the cowering hostages.

Yes.

Everything was going perfect.

And the best part about it was this:

This was only the beginning.

~xXx~

Grumpy pushed open the door to the vault, stepped over Happy's body, and rushed into the safe, where he found himself gazing at the huge piles of cash on top of metal tables. Underneath those tables were bags of even more money.

And it all belonged to him and the other clown now.

Throwing aside the spare duffel bag he had with him, Grumpy immediately started filling up the other one with cash, pushing in as much as he could carry and more.

~xXx~

He was back in the lobby with Bozo. In the short amount of time that they had left, Grumpy and Bozo had managed to fill up eight duffel bags full of cash. Bozo dragged the last two to the pile they had going before looking back at the hostages, making sure that they weren't going to do anything stupid at the last minute

"If this Joker guy was so smart," Grumpy continued. "He'd have us bring a bigger car,"

Suddenly, Bozo heard the safety of a gun being turned off, and slowly turned back to find Grumpy with a gun pointed straight at him.

Of course...He should have known this guy wouldn't be as dim-witted as the others...But was he as _clever_ as Bozo was?

"I'm betting the Joker told you to kill me soon as we loaded the cash," Grumpy accused, thinking he out-smarted this Joker they kept talking about.

Bozo sighed, almost in disgust as he looked at his watch, checking the time in a casual way.

"No, no, no, no," he spoke for the first time ever. "I kill the bus driver,"

And with that, Bozo took one step to his right, getting himself away from Grumpy's gun.

"Bus driver?" Grumpy was confused.

He took one step to his left, keeping his aim on the guy.

Bozo merely tilted his head to the side a little bit as he took another step away from Grumpy. This time, Grumpy did not keep his aim on Bozo, almost frustrated with this little game.

"What bus driver?" he shouted at Bozo.

A large noise drew Grumpy's attention, and before he knew it, the rear end of a school bus had backed up and crashed through the front doors of the Gotham National Bank. With full force, it hit Grumpy, immediately killing him with the impact and knocking him to the floor next to the duffel bags full of money.

Bozo watched this from the side where he stood, seeming numb to what he had just seen.

Oh no. Grumpy was not as clever and smart as he had thought himself to be.

~xXx~

The emergency exit door on the back of the school bus swung open, and another man with a clown mask jumped out. Apparently, he was the bus driver.

"School's out," he told Bozo. "Time to go,"

As Bozo went toward the duffel bags, the bus driver glanced around the bank and at Grumpy's body.

"That guy's not getting up, is he?" he joked a little.

Bozo didn't answer as he tossed a duffel bag to the bus driver, who threw it in the back of the school bus. The bus driver grunted, feeling the weight of the prize they had taken.

"That's a lot of money," he said as he was tossed a second bag.

After loading the last of the bags, Bozo started to walk away a bit, and that's when the bus driver realized that they were the only two clowns left alive in the bank.

"What happened to the rest of the guys?" he asked Bozo, curious.

Bozo said nothing as he turned to him for one second and aimed his gun at the bus driver.

_**BANG!**_

The bus driver fell to the ground dead next to Grumpy's body. Bozo continued to get his duffel bag full of guns that they had brought along with them for the heist. He was the last clown left, and had the money all to himself now. As he dragged his duffel bag toward the school bus and tossed it in the back, he was about to climb in and leave when a voice stopped him.

"Think you're smart, huh?" it said.

Bozo turned back to find the bank manager, still on the ground, wounded from the gunshot he had given him. Knowing what had to be done, Bozo dug into his back pocket for a spare grenade as he walked toward the bank manager that dared to taunt him.

"The guy that hired you..."the bank manager tried to laugh in disbelief, although it was quite painful. "He'll just do the same to you... Oh, criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor... _Respect_... Look at you. What do _you_ believe in, huh?" His voice was rising to the point where he was yelling in anger at the clown. "_**What do you believe in?**_"

At this time, Bozo had reached to where the bank manager laid, knelt down next to him, grabbed the back of his head and stuck the grenade he had into his mouth to shut him up.

"I believe," he answered in a calm voice. "Whatever doesn't _kill_ you simply makes you..."

Bozo took off his clown mask, revealing his face. The bank manager gazed at it in horror.

This was _**not**_ a face...

Blotches of white make-up had been poorly applied to this man's whole face. His eyes seemed to have no color except for the color black, courtesy of the black make-up that was caked around his eyes. Strands of greasy, green colored hair shone off the rays of sunshine that dared to shine on that particular spot.

But I think that the most horrifying feature that haunts the bank manager to this day, and any hostage who was foolish enough to take a glance at this man, was this:

At both corners of his lips...which were red as blood...there were these scars that ran all along this man's cheeks, making it look like he had this mangled and terrifying smile on his face all the time.

"_**Stranger**_,"

Indeed he was strange. And not only was he strange...

... He was the Joker.

The bank manager still stared at this man, wide-eyed with horror. The Joker just flashed a quick grin at him, jumped to his feet, and walked toward the back of the school bus that was to help him get away, all while the bank manager stared after him, still not believing his eyes, and the grenade still stuck in his mouth.

Then something caught the bank manager's eye. A strand of the purple suit-jacket that this green-haired villain was wearing had been tied to the key of his grenade, to the end of his coat. The Joker climbed into the back of the school bus, tossing his gun in with him, closed the emergency door, locked it, and hopped over to the front of the bus, before giving the purple strand a small tug.

The other end that was tied to the key of the bank manager's grenade was pulled off as the bus started to drive out of Gotham National Bank.

In dead silence, the bank manager waited for an explosion. As red smoke slowly rose out of the end of the grenade, the bank manager's muffled a sigh of relief that it was a mere smoke bomb.

And so, the Joker's school bus had made it just in time to pull in with other school buses, ones filled with Gotham's children that went to the public schools, blending in and driving past two squad cars of the Gotham City Police Department that were headed for the bank.

And the only things they would find were a demolished entrance to the bank scared hostages holding grenades, a wounded bank manager with a smoke bomb stuck in his mouth, five clowns dead, and sixty eight million dollars stolen out of the vault.


	3. Chapter 3

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Elizabeth and Aria were giggling in their carseats in the back of Bruce's Lincoln 2010 when Elizabeth exclaimed, "Why is a cwown dwiving a school bus?" She pointed out the window. Bruce had to look again; sure enough, there was a clown with a big grin on his face and messy green hair driving a school bus.

"Is the circus coming to town?" Aria asked, beginning to bounce up and down in her carseat. Bruce chuckled as he eyed the clown. "Not for another few months, Aria," he answered, keeping a eye on the road. "But when it does come, how about if I take you two to go see it?"

This took the two girl's minds off of the clown, who had disappeared down a side street.

He soon arrived at the privet school and dropped the two girls off at the entrance. He watched them run into the school before driving off to work. As he drove, he ran through what had happened the night before, his fingers genteelly tracing the new scar on his arm.

~xXx~

_ Bruce heard Alfred coming down the platform and enter the Batcave. He still kept his attention on sewing up his wound. He glanced at one of the many computers and saw that Gotham City was having a rather quiet night… for once._

_ Bruce heard Alfred titter at his new wound. He handed the butler the needle and thread that had been using to sloppily sew up the gash._

_ "Whenever you stitch yourself up," Alfred scolded, "You do make a bloody mess,"_

_"Yeah," Bruce sighed. "It makes me learn from my mistakes,"_

"_Well, you ought to be pretty knowledgeable by now, then," Alfred dryly commented, quickly and neatly stitching up Bruce's arm._

_"My armor," Bruce explained as if he knew what Alfred was thinking. "I'm carrying too much weight. I need to be, uh, need to be faster,"_

_"I'm sure Mr. Fox can oblige," Alfred reassured. "Did you get mauled by a tiger?"_

_Bruce turned his head away, his face turning a deep red from embarrassment._

_"It was a dog..." he muttered under his breath._

_Alfred was confused._

_"Huh?" he asked._

_"It was a __**BIG**__ dog," Bruce emphasized. "More copy-cats last night, Alfred. With guns,"_

_Since the Batman began fighting crime in the City of Gotham, it was clear that his dark and mysterious theatrics would draw a little bit of attention to the community. Bruce thought that sometimes Batman would draw a __**LITTLE TOO MUCH**__ attention. Over the past few weeks, there would be groups of people dressed up as Batman trying to fight_ _crime themselves. Of course, this was dangerous. Bruce was thankful that even Elizabeth Wouldn't even dare to think of doing anything like that._

_"Why don't you hire them and take the weekend off?" Alfred teased._

_"That wasn't," Bruce smirked, chuckling a little, "exactly what I had in mind when, uh, I said I wanted to inspire people,"_

_"I know." Alfred finished stitching Bruce's wound up. "But things have improved. Look at the new District Attorney. Bruce turned his attention to one of the computer screens on his work desk. Switching it from security footage from the bank robbery at Gotham National Bank to news footage about Harvey Dent, he settled straight back to work on keeping a close watch on Gotham during the daylight hours._

_"I am. Closely," Bruce stated in his small, serious tone. "I need to know if he can be trusted,"_

_"Are you interested in his character or his, uh, social circle?"_

_Alfred pointed to one of the computer screens, prompting Bruce to look at it. On the screen, it was showing footage from a different security camera that had been set up around the city. This particular type of footage was showing Bruce and Elizabeth Wayne's close friend, Rachel Dawes. She was walking on the sidewalk with Harvey Dent himself; Smiling; happy; a look of love on her face when she would be speaking to Harvey. It was the type of look that Bruce secretly wished he would get from her. He frowned a little bit._

_"Who Rachel spends her time with is her business," he tried to hide his guilt of spying on Rachel._

_Bruce got out of his chair to change into the white dress shirt and tie that was lying on another chair. He had hoped that he would get out of talking about this particular discussion with Alfred, but he knew the man well._

_"I trust you don't have me followed on my day off," Alfred commented, disapproving of his master's spying._

_"You ever took one, I might," Bruce warned a little._

_He turned back to take off his black shirt, and from what Alfred saw, the back of his sculpted body showed stories of Bruce's previous exploits as were bruises, cuts, and even scars that were once horrible wounds. Alfred held his breath in a little._

_"Know your limits, Master Wayne," he finally said._

_"Batman has no limits," Bruce turned back to his butler, putting on his white dress shirt._

_"But you do, sir,"_

_"Well, can't afford to know them,"_

_"And what's going to happen on the day that you find out?"_

_Bruce sort of smiled a little as he buttoned up his shirt._

_"We all know how much you like to say 'I told you so'," he reminded._

_"Well, on that day, Master Wayne, even I won't want to," Alfred smiled. "Probably,"_

_Bruce smiled again as he grabbed for his tie. While he got ready to face the world for the day, Alfred turned back to the security camera footage on the computer screens and frowned a little again. He saw on the screen his master's adopted daughter, Elizabeth Alice Wayne, in the playground at Gotham Privets, skipping rope with Aria Swann, her close and best friend. He turned back to Bruce._

_"Master Wayne," he started. "Do you think it would be a wise idea to tell Miss Elizabeth that you have been following her with the cameras when she's out and about in the city?"_

_Bruce was just straightening his tie when Alfred said that, and he stopped a little, his face still and absent to his pondering mind. Sarah didn't know anything about the cameras in the city, let alone the fact that her godfather would be watching her every move when she was around Gotham. He was ashamed to admit that it was a secret he should not keep from her, but he thought it was a secret that he would keep for her safety._

_"Actually, uh..." Bruce thought about what he would say. "I haven't really given any thought to telling her about it..."_

_"Don't you think she has the right to know?" Alfred asked when his master paused._

_"She does..." the young billionaire took his suit jacket off the chair._

_"Then why keep it a secret from her?"_

_Stopping when he was finished buttoning up his suit jacket, Bruce stole another moment to think again._

_"I trust Elizabeth, Alfred," Bruce finally said, looking at Alfred. "You know I do. But the fact is I don't want there to be another day where she's taken away and I don't know where she is... I'm doing this to protect her..."_

~xXx~

Bruce shook himself as he drove up to the family busieness. He hopped out of his car and tossed his keys to the carhop, who caught them with many years of practice.

Bruce swiftly entered the building and made his way to the elevator. Once he was inside, he press the button for the eleventh floor. When the elevator pinged, he rushed from the elevator down the hall and into a meeting room.

"Sorry I'm late," he announced. "I had to drop Elizabeth and Aria off at school."

Everyone nodded and smiled at the girl's names. Bruce had on more than one occasion bought them to Wayne Enterprise, where they would often be found with Mr. Fox in the basement, working on "projects".

As the meeting went on, Bruce found himself drifting off…

~xXx~

"Twank you again, Miss Swann, fow the wide," Elizabeth thanked Mrs. Swann as she hopped out of the car and grabbed her backpack. She waved goodbye to Aria before entering Wayne Enterprise. She happily skipped past the front desk, where the security guards all called out "Hello"s to the young girl. Elizabeth parroted back at them, saying each of their names in rapid succession as she hopped onto the elevator.

When the eleventh floor was reached, the five year old girl happily skipped past people juggling coffees and briefcases and other everyday office items. Finally, she arrived at the desired meeting room.

She peeked into the room and saw to her amusement that Bruce Wayne was asleep. She withdrew her dark head from her hiding place and made herself comfortable in a little niche behind a tall potted plant. She pulled out of her backpack a paperback copy of_ Bloody Jack; Being an Account of the C urious Adventures of Mart "Jacky" Fabor, Ship's Boy_. (REALLY good book. It's by L.A. Meyer, FYI for those who wish to read it!) She was quickly swallowed up into the story of a girl disguised as a boy on a mission to destroy as many pirates as possible without exposing herself to the rest of the crew.


	4. Chapter 4

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

**NOTE;**

**In chapter three, there is a signifant relation to Daughter. If you're the first to find it, then you will win an important part in **_**Daughter of the Dark Knight**_**!**

Elizabeth was jerked out of her little world by two men speaking Chinese. She poked her head out from her hiding place, startling two Chinese men.

"I'm sowwy," Elizabeth said in rusty Chinese, causing the two men to smile at her.

"Elizabeth!" She was suddenly scooped up into the arms of Lucius Fox.

"Helwo, Mr. Fox," Elizabeth chirped, smiling at her adopted father's friend and partner in many of his jobs.

"Elizabeth, this is Mr. Lau. He is the head of Lau Security Investments Holdings in Hong-Kong. Mr. Lau, I'd like to introduce to you Miss Elizabeth Wayne, Mr. Wayne's daughter,"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lau," Elizabeth said in Chinese, bowing the best she could in Lucius's arms, delighting the man to bits. He started to jabber in Chinese as he pinched her cheeks, making them sting a bit. She just smiled sweetly at him.

After Elizabeth had been fussed over, Lucius and Mr. Lau scuttled off, talking in an undertone as Elizabeth slipped into the meeting room. She spied Bruce putting some files into his briefcase.

"Helwo, Bwuce!" she happily chirped, skipping over to him and holding her arms up so that she would be picked up and held.

Bruce happily obliged, laughing as he scooped up his adopted daughter. He began to spin in tight little circles, making Elizabeth squeal loudly with giggles. After a few moments more, Bruce stopped in front of huge window that showed a view of downtown Gotham.

"You see the city?" he asked her, propping her up onto his hip as he pointed.

"It's bwutiful," breathed Elizabeth, her eyes glued to the busy streets of the city.

"Another long night?" asked Lucius Fox, entering the meeting room once more. Bruce set Elizabeth down onto the floor next to his feet, where she koalaed herself to his leg. She began to suck her thumb as she secretly listen to Bruce and Mr. Fox's conversation.

"This joint venture was your idea, and the consultants love it," Lucius announced to Bruce. "But I'm not convinced. Lau's company has grown eight percent annually like clockwork. His revune stream must be off the books..." He raised an eyebrow a little to show how suspicious the situation was. "Maybe even illegal,"

"OK," Bruce said, sounding calm. "Cancel the deal,"

A small smile slowly appeared on Lucius's face.

"You already knew," he said.

"I just needed a closer look at their books," Bruce explained.

"Anything else you can trouble me for?" Lucius asked.

"I need a new suit,"

"Yeah, well," Lucius teased. "Three buttons is a little 90's, Mr. Wayne,"

"I'm not talking fashion," Bruce explained. "Mr. Fox, so much as function,"

Elizabeth saw Bruce pull out a few papers from the inside of his suit jacket from the corner of her eye and watched him hand it to Fox. He didn't know that she was watching, but Elizabeth could tell from the back of the paper that there were outlines of something with wings.

"You want to be able to turn your head," Lucius said as he inspected the blueprints

"It'd sure make backing out of the driveway easier," Bruce remarked with a grin.

"I'll see what I can do."


	5. Chapter 5

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Later that night, Elizabeth and Bruce were at Wayne Manor watching TV as they snacked on some popcorn. They had decided to watch the news.

_"__With Carmine Falcone in Arkham__,"_ Harvey Dent stated to the courtroom. _"__Someone has to step up to run this so-called family__,"_

Albert Rossi nodded.

_"__Is that man in this courtroom today?__"_

Again, Rossi nodded.

_"__Could you identify him for us, please?__"_

Harvey Dent was now in front of Sal Maroni himself when he asked Rossi that question. Rossi grinned a little.

_"__You win, Counselor__,"_ he said.

Dent smiled in a bit of triumph. So far, so good...

_"__It was me__,"_

The courtroom laughed a bit. The judge shook his head in disapproval. Harvey Dent looked surprised and a bit ticked off.

Elizabeth saw Rachel hand Dent a piece of paper as soon as Rossi cracked his little joke.

_"__I have a sworn statement-__,"_ Dent took the paper. _"__-from__you, that this man-__"_ He pointed to Rossi, then to Maroni. _"__-Salvatore__Maroni-__"_ He put the paper back at the table before going over to Maroni. _"__-is the new head of the Falcone Crime Family__."_

_"__Maroni?__"_ Rossi sounded like Dent had to be joking. _"__He's the fall guy. I'm the brains of the organization__."_

The courtroom laughed again. Though he was a member of a dangerous mob, it was amazing to see ordinary people who abide by the law like they should thinking that this guy was funny. Dent looked like he had enough of this. It was clear that Rossi not cooperating and putting on his own little stand-up comedy for the court was a waste of time.

_"__Order!__"_ the Judge banged his gravel on his desk, calming the courtrooms laughter down.

_"__Permission to treat the witness as hostile__,"_ Dent requested.

_"__Granted__,"_

Suddenly, Elizabeth and Bruce saw Rossi go from all grins, to a little angry and furious.

_"__Hostile?__"_ he asked, outraged. _"__I'll show you hostile!__"_

The next thing that happened was a little surprising. Albert Rossi pulled out a handgun from the inside of his really tacky plaid suit jacket, aiming straight at Harvey Dent. The crowd gasped in horror, remembering that Rossi was a dangerous man to be dealing with, not to mention dangerous to anger.

"Oh my Lord!" Elizabeth gasped as she koalaed herself to Bruce's side, unable to look away from the courtroom drama.

_"__**Umph!**__"_

Elizabeth didn't catch Harvey Dent punching Albert Rossi across the face, quick as lightning. By the time she had turned her attention back to the television, there were two security guards grabbing a hold of Rossi as he recovered from the hit. Dent now had the gun in his hand, looking at it as he moved toward Maroni.

_"__Carbon-fiber__,"_ he inspected the gun. _"__.28 caliber. Made in China. If you want to kill a public servant, Mr. Maroni, I recommend you buy American__,"_

Dent put the handgun on Maroni's table, leaving it at that. The security guards started taking Rossi away.

_"__Get him out of here__,"_ the Judge ordered.

_"__But, your Honor__,"_ Harvey Dent turned back to the Judge. _"__I'm not done__,"_

There was applause from the courtroom. Rachel obviously looked relieved that Harvey was all right. Nothing interesting seemed to happen next, so Bruce clicked off the TV.

"Unbelievable," he muttered as Elizabeth sat in his lap, now halfway asleep. Bruce picked her up and carried her to her bedroom, where he tucked her into bed and kissed her forehead goodnight.


	6. Chapter 6

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

The next night, Elizabeth was in the dance room (a room that Bruce had built with his own two hands for Elizabeth to practice dancing in). The room held floating hardware floors, mirrored walls and a barre that stretched along the entire room. The room was lighted by a glass chandelier that hung from the center of the ceiling. One wall held a sunken boom box and a shelf filled with all of Elizabeth's dance music.

Elizabeth overheard Bruce telling Alfred that he had a date that night, so after her dinner of mac 'n cheese, she quickly changed into a black unitard, tights and put her hair up into a bun. She slipped on her dance shoes that were a cross between ballet and tap shoes, turned on the music and started to dance.

~xXx~

"Bruce, does your butler dance?" Natasha asked in a teasing voice.

"Actually, he does. If you ever do wish to dance with me, then you might wish to wear steel toed boots," joked Bruce. Natasha's head tilted back as she laughed out loud. Then, the fast _tap-tap-tap_ of tap shoes was heard throughout the lower floor. "Come on," Bruce stood,offering the Moscow Prima Ballerina a hand to rise. He led her to a closed door. He kept his finger to his lip as he opened the door.

Elizabeth had lost herself in the music of Riverdance as she twirled and leapt about the room. She had her eyes shut, for she had the entire routine memorized in her head.

She leapt up into the air for the one step that she could never get right; a_ grand jetés. _She leapt up into the air as high as she could before crashing down to the hardware floor. She blinked her eyes a few times, a bit dazed before a woman rushed over to her.

"Oh my dear girl, are you alright?" the woman asked her in fluent Russian. It took Elizabeth a few moments before she answered.

"Yes, I am fine," she assured the woman, slowly standing. "I can't ever get that jump right!" she muttered, bending herself so that she could touch her toes.

"Here is how you do it," the ballerina said before going through the motions slowly with the young dance. Within no time at all, Elizabeth was doing _grand jetés _as though she had been doing them all her life.

She gracefully halted before Natasha and bowed, thanking her in Russian.

"You know," Natasha began. "Some of the other ballerinas and I were thinking about opening a ballet camp here in Gotham. Would you be interested if we did? You look as though you are a natural at ballet."

~xXx~

Elizabeth danced for hours, never stopping until Bruce came home later that night around eleven. When she heard him enter the house through the front door, she stopped in midtwirl and ran out to greet him. Bruce placed his evening jacket on the coatrack and bent down to scoop up his adopted daughter.

"What is the excited greeting for, Lizzy?" laughed Bruce, twirling around in a full circle, making the girl squeal loudly.

"I was waiting fow you to come home." The child buried her head into Bruce's shoulder, deeply inhaling his scent that reminded her of pine and Christmas.

"Come'on, Lizzy, let's get you tucked into bed." And with that, the billionaire carried his daughter to her room and tucked her in.


	7. Chapter 7

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

The next few weeks had Bruce and Alfred preparing for the new District Attorney's fundraiser. Elizabeth, Barbara (Gordon) and Aria would spend hours playing hide-and-go-peep underneath the tables. Bruce had a seamstress come in to do the girl's dresses. He also selected accessories for the collection of Wayne Jewels in a vault in his study.

Finally, the big night arrived. Rachel arrived early to do the giddy girl's hair and makeup and help them get into their dresses.

Elizabeth wore a turquoise dress that halted at her ankles. The skirt and bodice were embroidered with tiny black roses; the sleeves were full and draping while the skirt fell strait to the floor in tiny little pleats. She wore her black curls in a French braid that halted at her waist. She looked like a medieval princess, but when she would twirl around, the skirts would flare out. She wore her black ballet dance shoes and her jewelry were tiny sapphire eardrops and a matching pendant.

Aria chose a burgundy girl with contrasting embroidery patterning the taffeta fabric. Her sash was an elegant olive color, with pinned burgundy and ivory bow on the side. The sash further extended to the back, which tied into a bow. Her only jewelry were ruby earstuds.

Barbra wore an emerald green dress that flared at the hips and bubbled in at the knees, creating an eighteenth century look. Her dark red curls were held out of her green eyes with a purple satin ribbon, and she wore black boots.

The three girls made such an adorable sight, that Alfred decided to take a million pictures of the "little supermodels." The trio of friends walked down the grand staircase, swaying their hips and trying to keep their faces like stone. The girls jumped up into the air, creating a "High School Musical" effect, played "Ring Around the Rosies", did a pyramid with Elizabeth standing on the shoulders of Aria and Barbara, as well as several other cute poses. Then Bruce entered and he had three little monkeys climbing all over him.

"That should do it for now, Master Bruce, Miss Elizabeth, Miss Aria, Miss Barbra. " Alfred smiled at the picture. Bruce had Elizabeth hanging onto his neck while he carried Aria and Barbra under his arms. The girls were shrieking with glee as the billionaire zoomed the girls into the ballroom, where the party was taking place.

Rachel and Harvey had just arrived when Bruce Wayne came flying into the party with a trio of five year old giggling loudly as they held onto him. The other party going started to laugh and smile at the cuteness of the ex-billionaire playboy, his adopted daughter and her friends.

Bruce set the girls down, warned them to be good, then began to solicize with the guests. Within minutes, the three girls spied Harvey taking Rachel into the kitchen. Elizabeth held her finger to her lips as the trio snuck their way quietly behind the island counter, where they heard the entire conversation clearly.

"You cannot leave me on my own with these people," whined Harvey, running his hand through her brown hair.

"The whole mob's after you and you're worried about these guys?" Rachel rolled her eyes with her arms folded across her chest.

"Compared to this, the mob doesn't scare me. Although, I will say: them gunning for you makes you see things clearly," Dent paused as though he wanted to say something else, but he didn't know exactly how to phrase it.

"Oh, yeah?" Rachel asked, interested.

"Yeah. It makes you think about what you couldn't stand losing. And who you want to spend the rest of your life with..." Harvey let out a nervous little laugh as he met Rachel's eyes.

The girls could almost see the couple smiling shyly at each other.

"The rest of your life, huh? That's a pretty big commitment." Rachel's voice sounded uncomfortable.

"Not if the mob has their way," Harvey whispered.

"Don't," Rachel also whispered. The girls could hear fear in her slightly trembling voice.

"Okay. Let's be serious. What's your answer?" Dent quickly changed the subject.

"I don't have an answer," Rachel answered honestly, to the girl's disappointment.

The girls dared to peep around the corner and saw that Rachel was in Harvey's arms as she thought about was he was offering her. The district attorney was gently stroking her hair back, mumring soft words.

"I guess no answer isn't "no"," Harvey whispered sadly, hugging Rachel tightly.

"I'm sorry, Harvey. I just..." Rachel pulled away from Harvey's hug and reached into a cabnit, grabbing a glass and filling it up with water at the sink.

"It's someone else, isn't it?" Harvey seemed to be confused. "Just tell me it's not Wayne. The guy's a complete-"

It was then that the girls noticed that Bruce had snuck up behind Harvey and knocked him out. Aria opened her mouth to scream, but Elizabeth firmly clamped a hand over her mouth. The three friends looked at each other with terror filling their eyes.

"What are you doing?" Rachel yelled at Bruce.

"They've come for him," Bruce simply said.

From the ballroom- a shotgun blast followed by screams could be heard. When the girls looked again, they saw the billionaire stuffing Harvey in a closet and placing a mop through the handles. Then he rushed past Rachel-

"Stay hidden," he ordered her.

The girls looked at each other before hightailing it into the ballroom, where they stopped short as Maddie, a girl who was in their class at school ran into them. She pulled the girls aside and hissed, "Some idiot dressed as a clown is holding everyone hostage!" the bookworm hissed, fear in his big blue eyes. Elizabeth pushed past the taller girl and darted into the room.

"We're the entertainment!" cackled the clown loudly, parading about the room.

"Hey, tat'z _**OUW**_ job!" Elizabeth loudly declared, pushing her way past guests and standing up to her full height of three feet one inch. Her arms were folded and she had an angry look upon her face. Aria and Barbara joined her, followed by Maddie. The three girls flanked their leader as though they were bodyguards.

The clown started to laugh; Elizabeth remembered him, only she couldn't recall where she had seen him…

"How cuuuuuuute! Harvey Dent had a posse of little girls to guard him!" the clown giggled. He wore a messy, faded purple suit with a green tie and clown makeup sloppily covered his face.

Aria stepped forward and peered at him. She turned and skipped back to her friends. "He is deffy a fashion _**DISASTER!**_" she boldly and loudly declared, causing the girls to bust up into loud giggles off mirth. The clown joined in as well.

"I only have one question: where is Harvey Dent?" the clown asked, bending down so that he was on the same level as the girls were. They wisely kept their mouths glued shut._ "_I'll settle for his loved ones..." he cooed, reaching out to stroak Elizabeth's cheek, but he bit his finger hard, causing it to bleed.

At that moment, a distinguished Gentleman stepped behind the clown's path and politely tapped him on the shoulder. When he had turned around, he loftily declared, "We're not intimidated by thugs."

The Joker stopped taunting the girls and turned his attention, staring at the man. Suddenly, he smiled affectionately.

"You know, you remind me of my father." He grabbed the man." I hated my father." The Joker had his blade in the gentleman's mouth.

"Don't you dare…" hissed Elizabeth, taking a step forward with her fists clenched as she glared at the clown in the eye.

The Joker dropped the Gentleman and turned to Elizabeth.

"Hello, beautiful. You must be Wayne's brat." He ran his knife across her cheek in a gentle manner. "And you are beautiful. You look nervous- it's the scars isn't it? Wanna know how I got them? I had a wife, beautiful like you, little girl. Who tells me I worry too much. Who says I need to smile more. Who gambles. And gets in deep with the sharks. One day they carve her face, and we've got no money for surgeries. She can't take it." He pressed his knife into her cheek. "I just want to see her smile again. I just want her to know I don't care about the scars. So I put a razor in my mouth and do this to myself... And you know what?" He started laughing… or was he crying? "She can't stand the sight of me... She leaves! See, now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling."

"I'd feel pity, if not for the fact that my daddy is Dr. Jonathan Crane! And I do know who you awe- you're the nutcase who calls himself the _**JOKER!**_" Elizabeth yelled at him.

The Joker raised his knife from Elizabeth's cheek. She slugged him in his mouth, causing him to smile malevolent at her.

"A little fight in you. I like that." The Joker grinned in Elizabeth's face; she didn't flinch or back off.

"Then you're going to love me."

Everyone turned at the new voice.

It was Batman.

The Joker turned. Batman catches him with a blow, spinning him down and disarmed him. The Joker's men jumped him; Batman takes them out two at a time; disarming thugs, breaking forearms. The Joker clicked a blade from the toe of his shoe and kicked, jabbing between the plates of armor covering Batman's ribcage. Batman hurled the Joker across the room. One of the Joker's men lunged; Batman laid him out cold. Th.e Joker has another knife pressed to Elizabeth's neck and he hold Aria by her blond curls. Barbra was he ld another thug.

"Drop the knife," Batman growled.

"Sure. Just take off your mask and show us all who you are..." sang the Joker.

The Joker raised his shotgun to the side and blew out the pane of glass next to him. The Joker dangled Elizabeth, Barbara and Aria out the window.

"Let them go," growled Batman, stepping closer to the girls.

The Joker started to hoot. "Very poor choice of words..." he taunted as he dropped the tree girls out the window.

He let them drop. The trio all held hands as they fells onto a sloping glass roof. The girls slid towards the edge; Batman dove after them.

They dropped, certain that they were going to die. They all hugged each other; at least they were going to die together.

Batman fired his grapple and his arm encircled the three tiny girls. The then activated his wings, soaring high above Gotham City. Elizabeth shivered in her thin dress, suddenly wished that she had thought to have worn a jacket.

Soon, they reached the deck outside of Elizabeth's room. Aria and Barbra scrambled off of Batman and ran inside, terrified silly out of their minds.

But Elizabeth clung to him, both scared out of her life and grateful to the mysterious vigilante for saving her life for the second time that year. She clung to him as though he were her life saver with her eyes squeezed shut.

"Are you alright?" Batman asked the tiny girl gently. For a moment, he sounded just like a normal person instead of a man who dressed up like a bat and ran around Gotham City, beating up criminals.

Elizabeth just allowed him to hold her; she didn't know _**WHY**_, she felt safe, comfortable in his arms. She looked up at Batman with respect and gratefulness shining in her sapphire blue eyes.

"Twank you," Elizabeth whimpered, her small fingers latched on to his armor, refusing to let go. Not that Batman blamed her. They stayed that way for an hour; the vigilante holding the tiny girl close in his arms, Elizabeth trembling from the cold as she koalaed herself to his chest. Batman used his black cape as a blanket to keep the young girl warm as she drifted off to sleep. Once he knew that she was peacefully sleeping, he silently slipped into her bedroom and laid her onto her bed. Her covered her up, nice and snuggly warm. After a second thought, he bent down and kissed her forehead.


	8. Chapter 8

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

The next morning, Elizabeth was awoken by a pillow slapping her on the face. She bolted up and saw that Aria, Maddie and Barbra were engaged in a pillow war. Shrieking with glee, the black haired girl jumped up and started to bop her friends on any availed body parts while singing _Bop to the Top_ at the top of her lungs.Within no time at all, Elizabeth's bedroom sounded like an unturned choir.

"What is all the ruckus about…" _**BOP!**_ Alfred earned himself a pillow in the face. The butler quickly shut the door to ensure that no other injuries occurred to his elderly, frail body.

The giggling girls kept up the activity until Barbra wacked Elizabeth in the face, causing her to fall off her bed and hit her head on the floor. She wasn't moving.

**Kinda short, I know; please don't tell me that.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

When Barbra, Aria and Maddie charged into the kitchen screaming bloody murder, Bruce could only image the worst. He jumped up and raced into Elisabeth's room. To his horror, she was laying on the floor, unmoving.

Bruce bent down and began to give her CPR. He blew gently into her mouth and nose, filling up her lungs, then put pressure on her chest. He kept doing this until he felt Elizabeth's little chest begin to rise. Elizabeth moaned and tried to sit up. Bruce helped her, keeping one hand on her back, in case she had injured herself. Instead, the tiny girl buried her head into Bruce's bare chest and started to sob quietly. Bruce just held her close to him. Within moments, Barbra, Aria and Maddie had surrounded their friend with hugs.

Bruce sighed with relief when he realized that Elizabeth wasn't paralyzed; she just bumped her head hard enough to knock herself out for a few moments.

~xXx~

Alfred watched as the four friends gobbled up their breakfast like starving animals after a harsh winter. He smiled as Elizabeth began to show the other girls how to eat like "proper young ladies". The four girls were all giggling when Bruce joined them. Alfred handed him a green protein shake. The girls stopped eating to poke fun at the billionaire's breakfast, which Elizabeth announce loudly for everyone else to hear that it tasted like "doggy do-do". Bruce spat out his shake while Alfred merely chuckled.

"Elizabeth-" Bruce gasped as the girls howled with mirth. "Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing by bringing a child into my life," he muttered, snapping open the daily newspaper.

"Trust me Master Bruce, you did," Alfred called out from placing the dishes into the dishwasher. Bruce mock scowled at the butler before seeing that Elizabeth had finished her breakfast and was now in the living room, giggling and chattering with her friends as they all stretched. Some of the maneuvers that they were doing made Bruce's joints start to hurt.

He joined them by sitting on the couch and eavesdropping on their endless chatter. He caught a few words, such as _graduation, first grade, nervous, _and_ teachers._

He smiled as he listened to their conversation about graduating from kindergarten in a few days.

~xXx~

A week later, Bruce Wayne proudly watched Elizabeth Alice Wayne walk up the stairs to accept her diploma. Only, on her way across the stage, one of the school bullies pushed her off the stage. Everyone in the audience gasped as a sharp and loud _**CRACK**_ rang throughout the auditorium. In a flash, the billionaire was up on his feet and at his daughter's side. He noticed that she had landed on her arm and that it was bent at an awkward angle.

"I'm a doctor!" a young man with a bald hair and dark green eyes pushed his way through the crowd and knelt besides Elizabeth and Bruce. After a brief examination, he declare, "It looks like she broke her humerus in the upper cortex…" he muttered. Bruce quickly scooped up his daughter and rushed her to the hospital with Alfred driving at breakneck speed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Three weeks later, Bruce drove Elizabeth to the hospital so that she could have her arm X-rayed. She had been sullen and sulked a considerably time because she couldn't dance; the weight of her cast always threw her off balance.

When she was in the X-ray room, the doctor placed a bib on her and switched the machine on. In a matter of minutes, Dr. Lee had the young girl's X-ray picture of her arm on the screen. The twenty seven year old Japanese American female was shocked at what she saw.

"Well, Mr. Wayne, it appears as though Elizabeth's bone had healed fully!" Dr. Lee said with a look of puzzlement on her Asian featured face. She turned to grab the saw off of a table.

Elizabeth saw the saw and koalaed herself to Bruce with her ears squeezed tightly shut. Dr. Lee carefully removed the cast quickly and Elizabeth opened her big, innocent sapphire eyes wide and loudly stated, "Tat wazn't so bwad," causing the doctor and billionaire to chuckle.

"What did I tell you?" Bruce swung his daughter up into his strong, muscular arms. The five year old girl nestled her face into his neck, happy now that the cast was off.

**Again, kinda short. I have no clue about what happens next in Dark Knight. A little help pleasy sneezy?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

In the Batcave, Bruce Wayne examined a fingerprint that Lucius Fox sent him with one hand on his chin.

"I've run it through all the databases run it through all the databases and came up with four possibles," he thought out loud as he moved to allow Alfred to sit down in his chair. "Cross-reference the addresses. Look for Parkside and around," Bruce suddenly said.

The billionaire moved to open a hydraulic door and wheeled out a shiny new MV Augusta Brutale. He moved the bike onto the lift as Alfred called, "Got one. Melvin White, aggravated assault, moved to Arkham twice- 1502 Randolph Apartments, just off State-"

"Overlooking the parade," Bruce grimly finished the sentence, revving up the engine and shooting off to the parade.

~xXx~

Elizabeth danced to Riverdance's Lord of the Dance with Barbra, Aria and Madeline. She grinned widely as she jumped up into the air and landed again and spun around with her toe on her knee. She saw someone who was riding a motorcycle sneaking around the parade and enter an apartment complex. She didn't think anything of it.

Finally, the troop of Irish dancers ended up at the podium where Detective Gordon was watching as Mayor Engel was ruffling through his papers, looking for the first page of his speech.

Elizabeth noticed that the avenue has been blocked off; onlookers lined the sidewalks. Police marched past in dress uniform.

The mayor began his rather long winded speech. The girls all groaned quietly to themselves as they shifted themselves into more comfortable positions.

"With no word from the Batman- even as they mourn Commissioner Loeb, these cops have to be wondering if the Joker is going to make good on his threat to kill the Mayor today..."

Elizabeth shifted her attention to Barbra's dad, who was… _talking into his sleeve?_

Elizabeth turned her gaze to the buildings across the way and saw police snipers were scanning the crowd with much experienced eyes. Gordon continued to mutter into his sleeve. Then Gordon looked up at the myriad buildings overlooking the podium.

~xXx~

Bruce Wayne maneuvered the Ducati through the traffic. He pulled up near a parade barricade and dismounted and slipped into an alley.

Some of the building's hard-luck tenants eyed Bruce as he counted doors down the hallway. He found 1502...

~xXx~

A sea of police filled the Avenue. In the center stood three grieving families and an honor guard. The Mayor at the podium. Gordon behind. Dent is seated with Rachel.

"...and as we recognize the sacrifice of these officers, we must remember that vigilance is the price of safety."

~xXx~

Bruce entered the room and saw eight men in undershirts, bound, gagged and blindfolded. A sniper scope on a tripod sat at the window. Bruce moved to the first man and ripped the tape from his mouth.

"Took... they took our guns, our uniforms...: gasped the man, breathing hard.

~xXx~

Gordon scanned the crowd. The Mayor wrapped up his speech, to the girl's relief. The Honor Guard stepped forward with their raises weapons...

~xXx~

Bruce raced to the window and looked through the scope to see:

~xXx~

The honor guard turned their weapons on the mayor. One smiled, flesh-colored makeup covering his scars. The Joker. Gordon leapt forwards as they fired- Gordon took several shots to the back as he slammed the mayor to the ground.

Barbra screamed, then her face hardened. She flew into action. The rest of the girls followed. They kicked, punched and basically all but killed the Joker's hired men.

With all the pandemonium going on, the police snipers started firing at the apartment complex across the street.

On the podium, Stephens rolled Gordon over just as Barbra rushed over. She grabbed her father's hand and clutched at it for dear life.

"I'm sorry," Stephens whispered.


	12. Chapter 12

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Barbra Gordon clung to her mother, Mary Gordon, sobbing as Stephens and an uniformed officer stood before them.

"I'm sorry, Mary," Stephens said, handing her a police lutentant's hat.

James Jr., the only reminder of the late James Gordon Sr., pushed past his mother and sister to stare at the officers.

"I'm sorry," repeated Stephens, feeling at a loss for words.

Barbara stared at Stephens. Then looked past him.

"Are you out there? Are you?" she screamed at Batman, who hung his head in shame. "You brought this on us! This craziness! You did! You brought this...!"

She collapsed into Stephens's arms, sobbing hard.

~xXx~

Rachel held Elizabeth in her arms while she watched Gotham through the window.

"Harvey called. He says Batman is going to turn himself in," Rachel said as she held the peacefully slumbering girl tightly.

"I have no choice." Bruce came up behind her and accepted Elizabeth from his long time friend.

"You honestly think it's going to stop the Joker from killing?" Rachel had tears in her voice.

"Perhaps not. But I've got enough blood on my hands. I've seen, now, what I would have to become to stop men like him." Bruce held his daughter in his arms, gazing down at the innocent, beautiful girl.

Rachel looks at Bruce, knowing that she couldn't help him.

"You once told me that if the day came when I was finished..." Bruce moved towards her. "We'd be together."

"Bruce, don't make me your one hope for a normal life-" Rachel was cut off as Bruce took her into one arm.

"But did you mean it?" whispered Bruce, leaning in.

"Yes." Rachel whispered as well.

They kissed, then separate. Rachel looked sadly into his eyes.

"But they won't let us be together after you turn yourself in," she pointed out.

Bruce nodded, then left with Elizabeth. Rachel watched him go.

~xXx~

The next day, a capacity crowd of reporters, cops, and other people crowded the press room of the courthouse. Dent was at the podium. Bruce and Elizabeth Wayne both sat in the crowd.

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming," Harvey Dent began. "I've called this press conference for two reasons. Firstly, to assure the citizens of Gotham that everything that can be done over the Joker killing is being done. Secondly, because the Batman has offered to turn himself in-"

The crowd began to react.

"But first. Let's consider the situation: should we give in to this terrorist's demands? Do we really think that-" Dent was interrupted by a reporter shouting something that stirred up the crowd once more.

"You'd rather protect an outlaw vigilante than the lives of citizens?" shouted the reporter.

The crowd noisily assented. Dent calmly motioned for quiet.

"The Batman is an outlaw... but that's not why we're demanding he turn himself in. We're doing it because we're scared. We've been happy to let Batman clean up our streets for us until now-"

"Things are worse than ever!" bellowed a heckler.

Bruce looked at the Heckler and at the angry crowd. Dent leaned over the podium, impassioned.

" Yes. They are," Dent said one the crowd had calmed itself down. "But the night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming. (the crowd quiets) One day, the Batman will have to answer for the laws he's broken- but to us, not to this madman."

The crowd seems moved by his words and made appreciative noise.

"WHERE IS THE BATMAN?" people started to chant. Dent has lost them. He knew it.

"So be it." Dent turned to officers. "Take the Batman into custody." At this, a hush descended. Bruce was sitting towards the back as hungry eyes scanned the room. Bruce starts to rise. Dent offered his own wrists to the officers. "I am the Batman."


	13. Chapter 13

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE;**

**God, this chapter took so fucking long…**

A Detective unlocked the cell and let Rachel and Elizabeth inside.

"Unca Hawvy!" squealed Elizabeth, jumping out of Rachel's arms and running up to Harvey. She climbed up into his lap and gave his a hug. The man laughed as he returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, I didn't have time to talk this through with you," he apologized to Rachel, who was standing next to the door, motionless.

"Don't offer yourself as bait, Harvey," whispered Rachel, pleading with her boyfriend.

"They're transferring me to central holding," Harvey stated in a matter-of-fact voice. "This is the Joker's chance, and when he attacks, Batman will take him down."

"No. This is too dangerous-" Rachel was cut off by a detective knocking on the door.

Detectives stared at Dent as he was led, shackled, to the waiting convoy. Stephens began clapping- a handful joined in, but most remained silent. Rachel, carrying Elizabeth, followed him to the back of an armored vehicle.

"He's using you as bait- but he doesn't know if he can get the Joker he's failed so far," Rachel realized.

"How do you know what he's thinking?" Dent asked her.

"I just do, okay?" Rachel said after a pause. "Harvey, this isn't just about you, what about all the

people counting on you to turn this city around? Tell everyone the truth-"

Once again, she was interrupted, only this time it was by Dent's mouth touching hers. Dent pulled out his lucky coin.

"Heads I go through with it," was all that he said, flipping it into the air.

"This is your life... you don't leave something like this to chance..." Rachel pleaded, catching the coin with one hand. She looked and saw heads.

"I'm not," Harvey said sincerely.

She turned it over: it was double headed. She looked up- the doors closed on his smile. She shook her head, feeling torn.

"You make your own luck," Rachel whispered, tears trailing down her face.

~xXx~

As SWAT filed into the back of the support vehicles, their acting Commander barked, "We get this guy to County and he's their problem. The streets along your route will be cleared."

That was before the convoy stopped for no reason….

~xXx~

A SWAT with a shotgun climbed into the cab, pulling on his mask. He looked over at the driver, who's already wearing his.

"Hope you've got some moves," he muttered.

~xXx~

An Officer was holding up traffic when a truck pulled up.

"You wait like everybody else, pal-" the officer began in a board tone of voice.

A shotgun blast sent the Officer flying. A second blast illuminated the shooter's face: the Joker.

~xXx~

The Driver was all business. Suddenly, the radio began to crackle.

"All units, be advised. All units will exit down Cheviot west and proceed north on lower 5th avenue," it squawked.

"Lower 5th? We'll be like ducks in a barrel down there," chuckled the driver.

~xXx~

The convoy rolled through the subterranean streets. A garbage truck pulled up behind and casually swiped the rear vehicles of the convoy off the road...

"Get us out of here!" yelled one of the SWATs. The Driver nailed the gas.

The Garbage Truck pushed hard on the armored car, ramming its rear bumper, forcing it forward.

The Driver watched the Truck fill his rear view. The SWAT picks up the radio and barked into it, "We've got company back here-"

A second truck smashed into the SWAT van at the head of the convoy, smashing it through the concrete barriers and into the river. The truck is branded "LAUGHTER" but and "S" has been spayed at the front to make "SLAUGHTER" with "HA, HA, HA" all over the side...

The Joker's Truck dodged between the support columns and into the oncoming lane- pulled alongside the armored car. The Driver looked over. The cargo door on the truck slid open. Inside, was the Joker, holding a machine gun. The armored car locked up its brakes, but the garbage truck pushed it forward as the Joker fired- bullets slamming into the side of the vehicle-

Dent acted calm as the SWATs flinched from the bullet indentations.

The Joker dropped his machine gun and picked up an RPG. He stopped. He saw something up ahead, racing towards the second truck- the Batmobile. The Joker stares, fascinated, as-

~xXx~

_The Batmobile plowed straight into the second truck,_- the lowprofile car sending the truck up into the concrete ceiling; the Batmobile carries on through, as the truck disintegrates.

The Joker looked back to the Batmobile, amused.

"Is that him-?" asked a thug.

"Anyone could be driving that thing stay on Dent," scoffed the Joker.

The Joker lined up his RPG and prepared to fire-

The SWAT team's eyes went wide at the Joker's weapon- the Driver jammed on the brakes-

The Armored Car crashed back against the Garbage Truck, braking, scraping, slowing just enough- the RPG slammed into the squad car in front of them and exploded- the armored car burst through the fireball and continues.

The Batmobile spun around to rejoin the pursuit.

The Joker turned his men to reload his RPG, saying "Do me up."

Then he turned back- levels his RPG out the window. Aimed...

Batman watched as the Joker prepared to fire. Several rows of cars separated them. He toggled the afterburner.

Two small children in the back of the car watched as the Batmobile rocketed overhead.

The Joker steadies the RPG and fired- the Batmobile crashed down into the open space between the two vehicles- taking the hit from the RPG which exploded. The rear of the Batmobile exploded as well- spinning the flaming car.

SWATs reacted to the explosion while Dent remained calm.

The Driver took debris hit to the head-The Joker cackled with delight as he was thrown around the rear of the trailer- Batman wrestled the pod controls, spinning on the gyroext.

The Batmobile flipped over to come to rest in a smoking heap, the front end intact, rear wheels scattered across the roadway. A small crowd gathered.

The Joker jumped down from the truck, still giggling like a kid- looked back at the Batmobile's destruction, saying "Whoever he was... he ain't now."

The Joker yanked his dead driver out of the cab, jumped over him to take the wheel and pull back onto the roadway.

The armored car pulled ahead with the Joker's truck in hot pursuit.

People stared at the smoking wreck, inching closer...

Batman adjusted his position, hitting a button-

_Damage catastrophic. Initiate eject and self-destruct._

Arm guards grabbed Batman's forearms as explosion bolted fire all around the pod...

_Goodbye._

The crowd jumped- panels of the front of the car blew out. The crowd stares, open mouthed, as Batman emerged, hoisted up and out of the flaming car by the front pod- levering over the front wheel... the pod pushed the other wheel in front to form a type of motorcycle. The bat-pod shot forwards, bursting free as the Batmobile detonates, dying in a massive fireball... Batman's cape sucked together, forming a tight pack on his shoulders, clear of the churning rear tire of the bat-pod...

~xXx~

The armored car races down the street- the CHOPPER dips low.

"We're back on point- and ready to give some of their own medicine-" the pilot said.

A cop pulls out an assault rifle, cocking it…

The Joker fought with the truck's gearbox, turning to his Thug-

"Tee 'em up."

The Thug grabbed his radio.

A Joker Thug in clown mask loaded up the cable gun seen in the bank heist. Another thug loads his own cable gun...

A motorist stared through his rear-view mirror, transfixed, as the bat-pod tore past. He yelped as the bat-pod smashed the wing mirror from his car.

~xXx~

Batman accelerated, oblivious to the staccato of cleaved wing mirrors as the bat-pod razored through traffic- crossing a busy intersection. The bat-pod cut off the crowded lower level street, roaring over into the parking lanes.

Batman squeezes his triggers- blasting at parked cars, blowing them out of the way, literally cannoning a path for the pod...

The Bat-Pod cannoned through the glass doors and raced through the station/ mall- commuters screaming and diving out of the way- The Bat-Pod races up the stairs and onto the upper street-

~xXx~

The Joker's Thugs fire the cables across the street at seventh floor level... they pull taut as the chopper approaches, unawares... the chopper catches on the cables, going down in a fiery ball that barrels along the street towards the armored car...

The Driver steered around the flaming wreckage.

The Bat-pod Tore down a narrow alley blocked with dumpsters, blasting the dumpsters to make a path-

The Joker handed the wheel to his man- taking out a submachine gun-

THUG; Boss?

The Joker looked ahead to see the Bat-pod emerge from the alley in a cloud of fire, skidding sideways impossibly- it raced towards them.

"Guess it was him," shrugged the Joker.

The Bat-pod raced straight at the Joker's truck- fired a harpoon at the Joker's truck- it impacted low, below the bumper-

The Joker's Thug ducked, then came back up, beaming.

"He missed!" gleefully crowed one of the thugs.

Batman swerved past the Joker's truck, slaloms, wrapping the cables around a lamp post, spinning to a halt to watch...

~xXx~

The cable went taut, ripping one post from its foundation the truck's front wheels catching, flipping it end over end... The Joker crawled from the wreckage. He jumped over the median and started waving his pistol at oncoming traffic. Batman gunned the bat-pod and rode it up and over the median.

The Joker walked towards the Bat-pod, which sped towards him. He fired his gun randomly at the oncoming traffic.

"Hit me. Come on. Hit me," muttered the Joker.

Batman watched as the Joker held out his arms, waiting for impact. There was no room to go around him. Batman locked up the breaks. The Joker watched as Batman dumped the bike, rather than smash into him. Batman slammed into the wall. The Joker's thug reached Batman first. He was unconscious. The first Thug pulled at the mask. An electric charge from the batsuit threw him back. The Joker laughed. Flicks his switchblade. Crouches-

"Drop it," someone ordered.

"Just give me a second," whined the Joker, not turning around.

The sound of a gun cocking sounded behind the Joker. The Joker dropped his knife looking behind him. Behind them was the armored car. The man standing over him was the driver. He pulled off his helmet.

"It's Jim Gordon. Back from the dead," whispered the Joker, in awe.

"We got you, you son of a bitch," was all that Gordon said, snapping handcuffs onto the homicidal maniac.


	14. Chapter 14

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Gordon rang the bell; Amy answered it, dressed in black.

"I couldn't tell you. I couldn't risk-" Gordon began, but was cut off by his wife slapping him across the face- hard. He grabbed her, holding her tight to him as she sobbed.

Gordon entered the house and went upstairs to James Jr.'s room. He crouched by his son's beside, reaching out to touch his son's cheek. James's eyes open, staring at his dad as if still dreaming.

"Did Batman save you, dad?" he whispered.

Gordon looked at his son with a little pride in his eyes.

"Actually, this time I saved him." Gordon hugged his son just as Barbra wondered in, wondering what all the hubbub was about.

_**"DADDY!"**_ Barbra shrieked, running over to her father with her baby blanket dropping on the floor in her rush to leap into her father's arms.

"Oh, my little doll," Gordon whispered, hugging both his children close to him. He sighed happily. This was the reason why he protected Gotham City.


	15. Chapter 15

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

One night the following week, Elizabeth woke up to the smell of smoke. Thinking that the mansion was on fire, she jumped out of her bed and ran to the door. She cracked it open and ran into Bruce's room. She opened the door and found him on his bed, sobbing.

Elizabeth ran to him and jumped up onto the bed, crawling over to lie next to her adopted father, who just rolled onto his side and hugged her close to his chest.

"Rachel's dead," he whispered. "The Joker killed her."

Elizabeth's stomach dropped at these words; "Aunty Wae-kel" had been more like the mother she never had. The young girl buried her head into Bruce's chest and started to cry.

Within minutes, Bruce had fallen asleep. But Elizabeth stayed awake. She spied something on Bruce's nightstand. She picked up the first object. It was her Uncle Hawvy's double sided coin. The other object was a batarang.

She sat up, her tiny hand clutching the steel cutout of Batman's symbol. She somehow felt comforted- like she was being hugged by her idol. She suddenly felt braver. She tiptoed out of Bruce's room, still clutching the two items tight to her chest.

She crept back into her room and shut the door. She hid the keepsakes in her music box. She grabbed her stuffed bear before returning to Bruce's room. She crawled underneath the covers to keep warm before snuggling up next to Bruce.

**Whoo-ee… Thing have been BUSY! My older sister, Leather is pregnant with another little girl, Celebrate Christmas rehearsals, medical problems, driver licenses test…**


	16. Chapter 16

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Elizabeth clung to Bruce's hand as though it was a lifeline and she was drowning. Bruce Wayne navigated the hallways of the hospital that his father had worked in. they soon arrived outside a room and Bruce knelt in front of Elizabeth with a serious look in his green eyes.

"Elizabeth, Harvey is in serious shape. I do not want you to scream when you see him; do I make myself perfectly clear?" Elizabeth nodded as Bruce stood up. Nurses hid smiles at the scene; doctors hid chuckles.

"Unca Hawvy!" Elizabeth loudly squealed when she saw her friend. She scampered over to him and crawled up onto the bed before Bruce could scold her.

The doctor who was examining the man chuckled. "Well, this must be the amazing Miss Wayne that you would often talk about while you were sedated, Mr. Dent." He left the room to give them privacy.

Dent stared at Elizabeth with one side of his face pressed into his pillow. He looked normal to the girl.

"How aw you?" the girl bubbled happily, not noticing the pain the man's eye.

Harvey turned to face Elizabeth- the left side of his face was destroyed; skin blackened and shriveled with his molars visible. The eye was just a ball and socket. Dent manages a small smile with the good side of his face.

"I'm doing alright kiddo," he said to the shocked girl. Elizabeth could only manage a tiny squeak as she began to topple off the bed. Dent's arms snapped out and caught Elizabeth right before she hit the ground. He held her close to him as she gazed in wonder at his face. Her hand reached up and gently touched his face. She quickly brought it back, scared that she had hurt him. A damaged hand reached out from the blankets and pressed Elizabeth's petite hand to his cheek. "Atta girl, Bethie," he whispered, leaning back into the pillows with the girl on his chest, her curious yet gentle hands exploring his damaged face.

"Wat hawpened?" she whispered, taken his skeleton hand in hers. She saw pain in his eyes and snuggled up next to him with her head on his chest.

Bruce quietly observed everything from the doorway. He cleared his throat.

"Harvey, I have contacts with the best plastic surgeons in the world who can make your face look like new," Bruce began before Dent interrupted him.

"No. after all, who wants to hide who they really are?" he laughed hollowly as Elizabeth yawned widely and went to sleep on his chest.


	17. Chapter 17

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Elizabeth was half asleep when Bruce strapped her into her carseat. Bruce's cell phone rang as he slid into his seat. He check the caller ID and answered it as he carefully backed out of the parking space. Ever since he had adopted Elizabeth, his driving skills had dramatically improved.

"I saw Burns and Zachary... and a patrolman I don't know," he said into the phone. He paused then added, "There's at least one I don't know send the information to Gordon-"

The Lamborghini zipped around a car to get closer to a police van. Bruce roared past a line of traffic to settle in a few cars back from the police van, sitting at a red light. He studied the intersection- spotted a pickup jostling for position on the cross street. Bruce watched the driver of the pickup staring intently at the police van. Lining it up.

The light turned green. The police van pulls into the intersection- the pickup gunned it, racing at it...

Bruce floored it, yanking the wheel to pull up onto the sidewalk-

The pickup barreled at the van, full tilt- at the last second Bruce's Lamborghini slipped alongside the van- the pickup smashing into the Lamborghini.

~xXx~

Elizabeth woke up, screaming. He felt arms pulling her out of her carseat. She fought whoever the stranger was that had saved her, wailing loudly at the top of her lungs, drouning out the sounds of the sirens.

"Whoa, the little bugger got quite the set of lungs here!" shouted the officer as the little girl continued to kick and yell. She spied Bruce still in the wreckage of the sports veical and all but killed the officer to get to her adopted father.

Finally, the multi billionaire was out and sitting on the curb woozily. Elizabeth screamed with joy as she threw herself at him, curling up in his lap with her head on his chest.

"You okay, Mr. Wayne?" asked Gordon, bending down so that he could briefly examine Elizabeth.

"Call me Bruce. I think so," winced the man, placing a hand on his head. His nose was bleeding from the airbag that had went off, but it wasn't broken.

"That was a brave thing, you did." Gordon watched his men wrestling with the truck driver, who was yelling at the police.

"More like stupid." Bruce held out his arms for Elizabeth, who just curled herself up onto his chest and fell asleep with her thumb tucked firmly inbetween her lips. "Is she alright?"

"She'll probably have some bruises tomorrow, nothing serious."


	18. Chapter 18

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

The next night, Maddie, Elizabeth and Aria were spending the night at Barbra Gordon's house. The girls had fun, pigging out on junk food, watching Disney movies and running around the house singing silly songs at the top of their lungs.

Mary answered the shrilly ringing phone that was barely heard over all the commotion.

"Hello?" she answered, leaning out of the way of Barbra who was chasing James Jr. around.

"Mary, it's Anna Ramirez-" the detective began.

"Hi, Anna-" Mary was cut off.

"Listen carefully, there's no time. Jim needs you to pack up and get the kids in the car right away," Ramirez said calmly without a hint of fear in her voice.

"But the units outside-" Mary didn't think; she just yelled at everyone to grabbed their jackets and shoes.

Mary, those cops can't be trusted. Jim needs you away from them as soon as possible. I'll call them off for 10 minutes, you'll have to move fast-" the woman was clearly trying not to panic.

"But where-" Mary was once again cut off by Ramirez's voice.

"I'm going to give you an address- Jim will meet you there... 250, 52nd street. Leave as soon as the patrol car pulls out." The woman quickly hung up.

Mary waited until the police the had pulled out of the driveway before hustling all five kids into the family minivan and pealed out of the driveway, unknowingly towards danger…


	19. Chapter 19

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

"Hello? Mary, calm down-" Gordon started to say but was cut off by Harvey Dent's voice.

" Hello, Jim," Dent said, crossing over to the edge of the roof. In the corner huddled Mary with her arms holding Jr., Barbra, Aria, Maddie and Elizabeth, who were all trembling with fear.

"Harvey? What the hell's going on?" demanded Gordon. Barbra and the girls smiled slightly. The lutentant sounded _**MAD**_.

"You're about to know what my suffering is really like..." Dent trailed off as he looked at a place where the remains of a chair once stood. Tears prickled at the back of his one good eye.

"Where are you? Where's my family?" Now the man sounded panicked. Barbra whimpered loudly; Dent had the phone on speaker.

"Where my family died," Dent said as Elizabeth toddled up to him and held her arms up with an adorable look on her face. He hung up and scooped his girlfriend's goddaughter into his arms.

~xXx~

Gordon got out of his car with his gun drawn. He made his way into the blackened wreck of a building. Gordon peered into the darkness, calling out for his family, but receiving no answer. Fearing the worst, he entered the burnt out shell of a building.

Gordon spotted Mary and their two children and Barbra's friends huddled together. He moved towards them- Mary was shaking her head- _**WHAM!**_ Dent cracked Gordon over the head with his gun. Dent disarmed Gordon, rolls him over. He turned to look at the enormous hole in the floor. From the angle in the moonlight, Dent looked completely normal.

"This is where they brought her, Gordon," Harvey began, blinking his one good eye to keep tears from streaking across his face. "After your people handed her over. This is where they bound her. This is where she suffered. This is where she died."

"I know. I was here. Trying to save her," Gordon said, inching his way over to his wife and children.

Dent turned, revealing his dark side.

"But you didn't, did you?" she softly demanded, the twisted disfiguration of his face gruesome in the full moon's light.

"I couldn't." Gordon hung his head in shame.

"Yes, you could," Growled Dent. "If you'd listened to me- if you'd stood up against corruption instead of doing your deal with the devil."

"I was trying to fight the mob-" Gordon explained.

Dent moved towards Gordon, snarling.

"You wouldn't dare try to justify yourself if you knew what I'd lost. Have you ever had to talk to the person you love most, wondering if you're about to listen to them die? You ever had to lie to that person? Tell them it's going to be all right, when you know it's not? Well, you're about to find out what that feels like. Then you'll be able to look me in the eye and tell me you're sorry." Dent turned and stepped over to Barbara and placed the gun to her temple.

"Harvey. Put the gun down. You're not going to hurt my family," Gordon xalmly ordered the man.

"No, just the person you need most." Dent cocked gun at Mary, who whimpered and pulled the children in tighter around her, like a barricade. "So is it your wife?" he asked softly.

"Put the gun down," commander Gordon, his breathing starting to get heavier.

Dent moved the gun to point at Barbra, then Aria… Maddie… finally Elizabeth, who was still nestled up in his arms.

"Dent, if you kill my daughter, then you will be in very big trouble." The new voice made everyone turn to look at the newcomers.

The man wore a ripped and dirty suit with a sock over his head with two holes for eyes and a stitched mouth. Besides him was a young girl wearing a patchwork dress with matching leggings, boots, and armwarmers. Her mask had big eyes, a stitched on smile and red yarn hair (think of Sally from the _Nightmare Before Christmas_)

Everyone was shocked at Scarecrow's words.


	20. Chapter 20

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

"Scarecrow," breathed Dent, pointing the gun down at the ground. He looked at Elizabeth, who was glaring at the couple with hated in her eyes.

"My little princess," cooed Sally, walking over to Dent with her arms open to take Elizabeth.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" shrieked Elizabeth, dropping out of Harvey's arms and running to stand with her friends. She poked her friend out from behind Mary. "Stway away fwom me, you _**FWEAKS!**_" she hurled at them.

This seemed to hurt the Scarecrow and Sally's feelings. Sally tucked her head into the Scarecrow's chest and sobbed while he wrapped his arms around her shaking body.

"Elizabeth Alice Crane, you apolijieze to your mother this very second!" roared the Scarecrow, taking a threatening step towards Elizabeth, who just screamed, wiggled out of Dent's arms, then hid behind her friends.

~xXx~

Gordon turned to Dent, ignoring the two newcomers with a pleading look on his face. "Please, Harvey…" he begged.

Dent moved to James Jr. He brushed the blond hair out of the boy's frightened blue eyes with the muzzle.

Gordon snapped.

"Goddamit. Stop pointing that gun at my family, Dent!" he yelled.

Dent smiled, the tendons and muscles stretching, causing Elizabeth to realize…

… this man wasn't Harvey Dent.

"We have a winner," announced Dent, pulling the three year old boy away from Mary.

"No! Jim stop him! Don't let him!" she shrieked, trying to grab her son back.

Dent walked James past Gordon to the edge of the burnt floor. He touched the raw wood at the edge of the floor.

"I'm sorry, Harvey. For everything. But, please. Please don't hurt him," pleaded Gordon. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Elizabeth slowly inching her way towards Dent and his son.

Then everyone heard sirens screaming. Dent glared at Gordon, furious.

"You brought your cops?" hissed Dent, not realizing that Elizabeth was closing in on him.

"All they know is there's a situation," Gordon explained calmly, even though he clearly wasn't. "They don't know who, or what. They're just creating a perimeter."

"You think I want to escape? There's no escape from this-" Dent indicated his face, his suffering.

"No one needs to escape, because no one's done anything wrong. And nobody has to," Gordon said, trying to sooth Dent's ruffled feathers.

Dent chuckled, which was a macabre sight to behold.

"I've done plenty wrong, Gordon. Just not quite enough. Yet," Dent chuckled.

Dent squeezed the gun a little tighter against the little boy's neck. The boy whimpered.

"Wait!" Elizabeth burst out, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sowwy I nevw told you!"

"Told me what?" Dent asked the sobbing little girl.

"When you and Auntie Wae-wae started dating, she went to Staw City on a buiwness twip." The six year old girl took a deep breath in order to control herself. "She would call me evwy night to sing me to sweep. She told me that she was pwegnaunt." Dent dropped the gun, stunned. "With youw child."

**Duh, duh, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUH! Surprise!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

The entire group stood there in stunned silence for what seemed to be forever and a day until a wild animal like voice rasped, "You don't want to hurt the boy, Dent."

Dent turned; Batman stepped from the shadows.

"It's not about what I want. It's about what's fair. You thought we could be decent men in an indecent world. You thought we could lead by example. You thought the rules could be bent but not break... you were wrong. The world is cruel." To prove his point, Dent showed his coin. "And the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair."

"Nothing fair ever came out of the barrel of a gun, Dent." Rasped Batman, sending shivers of fear up and down Elizabeth's spine. She slowly began to inch her way towards James Jr., hoping to grab him while Dent was distracted.

Dent showed the coin again. "His boy's got the same chance she had. Fifty-fifty," Dent said, obviously not noticing the young girl's rapid decent upon the two.

Batman stepped closer, desperately, trying to reach Dent and James Jr.

"What happened to Rachel wasn't chance. We decided to act. We three. We knew the risks and we acted as one. We are all responsible for the consequences," Batman's reasonable voice cut through the darkness like a knife, making Elizabeth freeze in her tracks. But she boldly thusted her fear aside and continued on with her mission.

Dent looked at Batman with a pleading look on his face.

"Then why was it only me who lost everything?" he whispered.

Batman looked into Dent's eyes. The man saw emotional tromoil in the vigilante's eyes. "It wasn't," Batman simply said.

"The Joker chose me!" Dent furiously realized.

"Because you were the best of us. He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall," he said with clear sadness and disappointment in his voice.

"And he was right," Dent snarled, bitterness streaked across his words.

"But your fooling yourself if you think you're letting chance decide. You're the one pointing the gun, Harvey. So point it at the people who were responsible? We all acted as one. Gordon. Me. And you." Batman pointed out the people to Dent.

Dent listened, the wheels in his deranged mind turning. Suddenly, Elizabeth pushed James Jr. towards his mother just as Dent's arm grabbed her and held her close to his chest. Scarecrow and Sally screamed in anger and terror as their daughter's head was held close with the barrel.

"Fair enough." Dent eased his grip on Elizabeth. "You first." He pointed the gun at Batman, flipping the coin. Then he shot. Batman collapse to the ground, clutching his gut. "My turn." He pointed the gun at his own head, flipping the coin. He looked a little disappointed. Finally, he pointed the gun back at Elizabeth. "Your turn, Scarecrow."

"You're right, Harvey. Rachel's death was my fault. But punish me-" Gordon tried to backpedal to save the young girl's life.

"I'm about to. Tell your daughter's friend it's going to be all right, Gordon. Lie. Like I lied," shouted Dent.

Gordon looked up with a pained look on his face as he locked eyes with Elizabeth.

"It's going to be all right," Gordon whispered

"I know," Elizabeth whispered before reaching up to touch Dent's face.

Dent screamed in pain with the young girl's hands still on his scarred face. He went backwards…

And vanished over the edge of the rotten boards. Batman leapt into action; he saw that Dent had managed to grab onto a joist and Elizabeth had koalaed herself to Dent's side.

"Don't let go, Bethie," Dent told the girl. Batman reached out his arms and accepted the girl from him. The he reached out a hand for Dent to take.

"How can you help a monster like me?" whispered Dent, grabbing onto the batlike man's wrists as he hoisted him up.

"Because I can," Batman simply said as Elizabeth ran over to her hero and held her arms up for him to pick her up. He did so, the six year old girl latching onto his armor, making it much easier to hold her. The girl laid her head onto his breastplate, listening to his heartbeat thudding softly underneath the armor.

"You can't take our daughter away from us," Scarecrow growled, stepping forward menacingly.

"You do want for Elizabeth to lead a normal childlife, to have friends, to go to school, to be happy… don't you?" rasped Batman, wrapping his arms around Elizabeth's tiny form.

"Yes, I do," whispered Sally. She held her head high as she turned to scarecrow. "Listen to me, Johnny," she whispered so that Scarecrow could only hear her voice. "I don't want to expose Elizabeth to the dangers of the crime underworld. Please, just let her live a normal life."

Scarecrow seemed to hesitate before turning to Batman. With a nod, he and Sally dropped out of sight.


	22. Chapter 22

**Daughter of the Dark Knight**

**I don't own Batman.**

Batman soared above Gotham with Elizabeth cocooned to his chest, peacefully asleep. Now he understood why even some of the most dangerous, insane, hardened criminals wouldn't hesitate to kill someone who dared to mess with a child. He couldn't help but smile as he landed on the roof of Wayne Manor. He unlocked the window to Elizabeth's room, carefully entering her room. He detatched her fingers from his armor and laid her on her bed.

As he was leaving, Elizabeth rolled over and her hand went underneath her pillow. Her tiny hand wrapped itself around the Batarang that she had found on Bruce's bedside table…

**WOWZERS! That was quite a story if I may say so myself!**

**I shall now be writing some one-shots until I can get my grubby little paws on a copy of the new Batman script! I shall be coming out in summer of 2012, so I have a looooooooooong wait!**


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